PSP Agricultural Solutions sales down 9% in Q1 2016

Platform Specialty Products’ Agricultural Solutions business posted an 8.6% decline in net sales to $404 million in the first quarter 2016 compared with $442 million in the prior period; Organic sales were flat year-over-year.  Agricultural Solutions' Adjusted EBITDA was $85 million, a decline of 4.0% from $89 million of pro forma adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2015.  On a pro forma constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA for this segment increased $3 million or 3.1%, which was understated due to larger corporate allocations.

Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Sachdev said, "Platform demonstrated its resilience this quarter in challenging end-markets.  Our combined business was essentially flat in down markets in terms of both organic sales and constant currency adjusted EBITDA year-on-year.  Excluding the impact of changes in exchange rates and higher corporate costs we are incurring to build our infrastructure, both businesses increased profitability year-over-year. I am particularly pleased with our Ag results - while the overall market has been down significantly, we have managed to remain flat through a combination of the niche nature of our end-markets and strong execution, particularly in Europe.  In the first quarter, our performance was driven by an early spring in Europe and strong demand for our bio-solutions portfolio and selective herbicides to manage glyphosate weed resistance. Working capital grew on the back of a particularly strong March and in line with typical seasonal trends in the Ag market."

Rakesh Sachdev continued, "The benefits of our diversification and variable cost model are best evidenced in tough markets like these. We are benefiting from our focus on less volatile niche markets and our highly-diversified customer base and geographic footprint. We remain internally focused on operating execution, integration and synergy realization, which will continue to be key drivers of our success in 2016.  We are pleased to affirm our full year guidance, and I look forward to providing updates on our progress in the coming quarters."